A joint press release issued following the signing of the contract on February 20 said that despite the change in ownership, LGW would continue to carry out wet-lease operations for Eurowings using its fleet of seventeen Dash 8-400s.

"The move to Zeitfracht Group strengthens the future viability of LGW," Eurowings CEO and Chief Operating Officer Michael Knitter said. "We are pleased that the wet-lease will continue to allow LGW, with its professionalism, expertise and passion, to work for us and our customers."

For its part, Eurowings said the removal of the Bombardier turboprops from its purview would reduce complexity with its fleet to now consist entirely of Airbus narrowbody machinery. Eurowings inherited LGW after Lufthansa acquired the carrier from Air Berlin (AB, Berlin Tegel) during bankruptcy proceedings in 2017.

Blue Air (Romania) (0B, Bucharest Otopeni) has confirmed Zeitfracht Gruppe has taken a 10% shareholding in the carrier. Though the German logistics specialist has previously confirmed it has acquired a foothold in the Romanian budget carrier, it did not disclose the precise size of the stake acquired.

In a statement to local Romanian media clarifying the tie-up, Blue Air said negotiations began at the end of 2018, while the actual share transfer documents were signed on December 12, 2018.

Zeitfracht then sought the go-ahead from the German competition authorities which was duly granted this month, it said.

Blue Air did not state whether Zeitfracht has plans to increase its shareholding in the airline.